It’s that time of year when truckers need to pay fees for the new Unified Carrier Registration Agreement.

The new program, UCR, replaced the old Single State Registration System. Its first year was 2007, and now it’s time to pay the 2008 fees.

The SSRS was eliminated by language in the current highway funding legislation passed in
2005 – commonly referred to as SAFETEA-LU.

It was replaced by the Unified Carrier Registration plan.

UCR is a program with a fee structure based on the number of trucks and trailers, which is the same for all member states. Truckers no longer have to pick and choose states as they did with the SSRS. One fee covers all states.

With the program still relatively new (it wasn’t off the ground until late ’07), all states may not be 100 percent uniform in their enforcement on the payment of fees.

OOIDA Director of Regulatory Affairs Rick Craig served on the board that put together the UCR program and fee structure.

There’s no official due date for the 2008 fees, Craig explained. The National Conference of State Transportation Specialists agreed by consensus that June 1 will be the enforcement date, but they have no authority to make the states stick to that date.

He added that some states are saying they will begin enforcing earlier on those carriers based within their state.

With all of that in mind, states are mailing, or are getting ready to mail, UCR notifications. Craig suggests that carriers register and pay the fees as soon as possible upon receiving notice to avoid being fined.

Fees are based on the size of the motor carrier operation. Companies with:

0 to 2 trucks and trailers will pay $39;
3 to 5 trucks and trailers will pay $116;
6 to 20 trucks and trailers will pay $231;
21 to 100 trucks and trailers will pay $806;
101 to 1,000 trucks and trailers will pay $3,840;
1,001 or more trucks and trailers will pay $37,500. LL